


Who Killed Jason Shaw?

by lovehugsandcandy



Category: Ride or Die (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 04:23:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20687450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovehugsandcandy/pseuds/lovehugsandcandy
Summary: When Jason Shaw dies under suspicious circumstances, it’s up to Ellie to find the killer before her dad does.





	1. Ellie

“Ellie.”

“…”

“Ellie.”

“Mmmm…”

“ELLIE!”

“Aah! Ok! I’m up, I’m up! Ooof.” It had been a late night and she was tired; all she wanted was to sleep in, encased in the warmth of her childhood bed, and enjoy the rest of her Spring Break. After a rough cross-country flight with an hours-long stopover in Denver for some godawful reason, it had been relaxing being home. She had a little innocent fun hanging out at the food court with Riya, a little less innocent fun speeding through city streets and falling into bed sheets with Colt. She thought she deserved a lie in but, apparently, today wasn’t the day for it. At least her dreams had been peaceful, familiar nightmares giving her a reprieve for once.

She stumbled over to her bedroom door and threw it open, blinking sleep from her eyes and struggling to bring her dad into focus. Judging by the look on his face, her fun was ending. “What time is it?”

“After three in the afternoon, Ellie.” Her dad looked at her curiously. “Do you sleep this late at college?”

She groaned and trudged back into her room, tripping over a discarded pair of boots to slide between her sheets with a smirk. “When I don’t have class? Like, during Spring Break, you mean, when I’m allowed to sleep as late as I want?”

“I know, I know.” Her dad scoffed at her before spinning her desk chair around to take a seat. “Sorry, but I need to talk to you. It’s important.”

She sat up and could feel her stomach drop. “What’s up?”

“Jason Shaw died last night.” Her dad was studying her.

“What?”

He cleared his throat. “He died. Late last night…well, technically early this morning. The force thinks it was an accident. I’m not so sure.”

“Wait, what? You think someone killed him?” She rubbed the sleep from the corners of her eyes and tried to focus.

“I do.”

Ellie’s mouth fell open as she processed the news. Her dad watched her, for so long it was starting to make her uncomfortable, but she didn’t know what to say. Was she relieved? Ecstatic? Worried?

“I think one of your friends did it.”

“What?!?!”

“That damn crew of car thieves you used to run with? I think one of them did it.”

“But…”

“They have the motive. They have the ability. And Lord knows they have the criminal deviancy to plan this.”

“Dad, I don’t think-” She nervously pulled down the sleeve on her pajama top, tense fingers rubbing the fabric, mind racing. Did he really think…?

“I do.” He thumbed the badge at his chest. “I don’t know which one, but I’m sure they had something to do with it.”

She blinked up at him, words coming slow. “You’re investigating them.”

He didn’t even respond. “I want you to stay away from them.” His face was severe, cold, seething anger just under the surface of his brow. “Ellie, one of them was capable of cold-blooded, premeditated murder.”

Her face fell as her dad stood, hands in fists.

“Stay away from them.” He walked out of the room as Ellie sat, mind whirling. She heard his footsteps down the stairs and then, after a minute, the slamming of the front door. She peered out her window as he hopped into his new cruiser and drove away, waiting until the taillights faded down the road before jumping out of bed to throw on some clothes.

She wasn’t going to let her friends go down for this. She didn’t know how to protect them, but she knew she had to.

And there was no way in hell she was going to stay away from them, either. She had listened to her dad for the vast majority of her life. This was not going to be one of those times.

First step? Investigate. Keeping an ear out, just in case he came back, just in case he knew her better than she thought, she darted out of her room, into the study where her dad could often be found, hunched over files, working late. The small room was right next to his bedroom, space for only his desk, the squeaky chair missing an armrest, and a bookshelf full of old Criminal Justice books and California penal codes. This was the best time to search, when he was out and safely away, and she was sure she had spare time to dig around.

A quick fumble through his desk turned up nothing, unsurprising since the crime happened just last night. Shoulders raised, she booted up the old laptop the station gave him years ago, hoping against hope that it still would connect to the LAPD systems. She bit her thumbnail as the computer struggled to start, processors chugging and sounding like they were preparing for liftoff until, finally, she got the login screen. She put in the familiar password (using her mom’s birth date was such a Gen X identity theft waiting to happen) and grinned to herself when the computer started humming again, struggling to open the program.

After a few minutes of patient waiting, she was able to connect to the internet and make her way into the LAPD portal, the online login that the force used to share information with other precincts. She took a deep breath, started typing, and hoped for the best. And then, after another fifteen minutes of teeth worrying her bottom lip and silent prayer, she was in.

It took her a while to navigate around and working remotely meant some documents were locked, but she was finally able to open up her dad’s files. There, the most recent, in big letters: Jason Shaw.

She swallowed, feeling like she was falling down a rabbit hole, and clicked.

Since it had just happened, there wasn’t that much information. Traffic accident. 405-N. High speed collision with the barrier at the median at exit 55. First responders had to put out a massive fire before they could get to the driver. Make of the car matched his registration. They only pulled out one body. Dental record check was in process. Tox screen pending.

She skimmed the whole thing and then went back and read it again, pouring over every word. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was suspicious, what made her dad think he had been murdered, but she knew better than to doubt his instincts. With a sigh, she closed the old brick of a laptop and headed out, closing the study door behind her.

Whatever instincts her dad had, she had something better: a close, intimate relationship with his prime suspects. If he really thought someone in the MPC murdered Jason Shaw, no one was in a better position to investigate than she was. And she knew just where to start.


	2. Colt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First stop in her investigation? Colt Kaneko.

First on Ellie’s list was the one person she was desperately worried about her dad arresting; he was also the one person with both canny criminal ability and heated desire for vengeance, the one person that, if she were her dad, she would most suspect to devise a plan to kill Jason Shaw.

That one person was crouched next to a blindingly white motorcycle, set of wrenches next to him, rap streaming out of the phone by his feet. She watched him work for a minute, the long lines of his body ducking under the engine, carefully removing screws and bolts, single-minded focus on the bike. She had to cough three times before he looked up.

“Hey.” Colt stood and wiped the grease from his hands, eyes widening as he turned to her. “Whoa. Nice tats. Those weren’t there Saturday.”

“Yeah, thanks.” She looked idly down at the lines crossing her arm. “They’re fake. Riya and I were messing around yesterday.”

“You look like you’re trying to fit into a gang of car thieves.”

She rolled her eyes. “Luckily, I have an in with the boss. Listen, I need to talk to you.”

“Ok….” He looked rightfully suspicious.

“Shaw’s dead.” No point beating around the bush.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. “Wha-what?”

“Jason Shaw. He died last night.”

“Wow. That’s some news…He was out on appeals since January, waiting for a new trial. Looks like he won’t be going back to jail. How did he-?”

“Car accident.”

“Couldn’t happen to a better guy.” Colt shook his head ruefully.

“Yeah. The report I found thinks he was going over a buck-fifty on the 405 before he slammed into the barrier.”

“Damn….was he racing?”

Ellie’s eyes cut to Colt reflexively, watching him run his fingers through his hair. “Maybe he was running?”

“Maybe…his trial was supposed to start soon.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Colt shrugged, crouching to put the tools back in a toolbox. “Rumor is that it’s kinda a fucking mess. Mona was gonna testify against him, he was gonna testify against her.”

Ellie felt the blood drain from her face. “I-”

“Hey. Stop. She has the best lawyers money can by, El.” He stood to grab her hand, tracing a comforting thumb over her knuckles. “She’s gonna be ok.”

Ellie nodded and sighed. “My dad thinks the crew was involved.”

“What? In Shaw’s death?”

Ellie shrugged. “He thinks one of you did it.”

“I thought it was a car accident.”

“My dad thinks it looks fishy.”

He blinked at her, silence stretching out. “Ellie? …Ellie, I didn’t kill him.” He could obviously see her skepticism because he continued. “Ellie, no. I mean, I wanted to, I thought about it, but it never went further than that.” She kept silent, watching as he rubbed the back of his neck before he looked at her, gaze hard. “Fuck…..I’m not sorry he’s dead. I’m sorry I wasn’t fucking there, but I’m not sorry he’s dead.”

“…if my dad arrests you-”

“Stop…I didn’t do this.” His eyes bored into her, so intently that she tried to look away but found she couldn’t move her head, couldn’t avert her eyes from the pleading stare. “I wouldn’t lie to you, you know this.”

“I know.” He had done a lot of shit but he never lied to her, ever. “But I have to ask. To know. Where were you last night?”

“Ellie. Jesus.”

“If my dad asks, if he interrogates you, what are you going to say?”

“Nothing without my lawyer!”

“Colt. Where were you last night?”

“Here. I was here.” He shook his head. “After we talked on the phone, I dicked around on the bike and went to bed. And before you ask, no, no one saw me, I don’t have any witnesses, I guess you’ll just have to trust me. I _didn’t _do it.”

“I know, I trust you.” She grabbed the front of his t-shirt to pull him close, relaxing into his arms. Her voice was muffled as she spoke into his chest, nose buried in the cotton. “I just don’t want you to take the fall for it.”

“I won’t. I swear.” He rubbed slow circles across her back and, for a second, she let herself believe it would all be ok.

“I don’t want anyone in the crew to take the fall. He deserved it.”

“Do you really think someone in the crew did it?”

“I’m not sure.” She looked up at him, sharp features sharp in the dim light of the shop.

He smirked. “Did you come to question me first?”

“Well, you’d be my prime suspect.”

He rolled his eyes. “In this? I’m innocent, I swear. Any other crimes, I plead the fifth.” He dropped a kiss on her forehead, arms sliding around her waist to graze the skin underneath her shirt. “Why don’t you stay the night? Isn’t you dad on night shift anyways?”

“Hmmm….somewhat tempting.” His lips trailed down her forehead to her ear as her eyes fluttered closed.

“And Toby’ll be back tomorrow morning. You could investigate him while you’re here, kill two birds with one stone.” His lips were at her neck and her fingers reflexively curled, nails scraping his sides.

“It feels like you’re trying to distract me, to keep me away from the guilty party.” It was getting harder to think straight, to form words. “These aren’t the actions of an innocent man.”

“Nothing about my thoughts is innocent right now.” The pads of his fingers found the small of her back, the scrape of calluses shooting lightning up her spine. “Come on, baby.” He took her hand, pulling her backwards towards the stairs. “Stop thinking for a bit.”

She only smiled fondly, letting herself be pulled along to his bedroom. It would be nice to to stop thinking for a while. And, true to his word, Colt was extraordinarily good at making sure there was no room in her mind for her dad’s suspicions or dead detectives.


	3. Toby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie’s investigation heats up as Toby gives her new information and new questions.

Ellie felt the sun’s rays hit her face; she rolled over and was about to slide back into her dreams when her brain jolted, remembering the events of the day before. Her eyes flew open.

Colt was still sleeping next to her, hair mussed, mouth slightly open, one hand curled protectively around her hip; she took a moment to watch him sleep, the one time he seemed perfectly at peace, looking younger than ever as his brow softened and jaw relaxed, before rolling out of bed and fishing her clothes off of the floor.

The only thing she could think was that she had to protect him. She had to protect them all.

When she wandered down into the shop, she had to smile; even though it was early, the telltale sound of metal banging against metal echoed across the concrete. She followed the noise to where Toby was under a muffler, his laptop perched next to him play what appeared to be an endless loop of GoT.

He jumped up when he saw her, barely missing banging his head on the bumper. “Ellie! Long time no see!”

Her grin was strained. She had seen Toby that weekend. Eyes still bleary from her cross-country travels, she had been running errands in Inglewood when he almost walked into her as she left a shop; at the time, he made her promise that she would stop by to see him. Neither of them had thought it would be under these circumstances. “Hey, Toby. Listen, I need to-”

“Wait, hold on!” He knelt to pause the video and then his arms circled her shoulders, tightly, wiry muscles holding her close.

“Hi, Toby. Hi,” she wheezed. “I love you but…I need…to breathe.”

“Oh, sorry, of course.” He stepped back but the beaming grin on his face didn’t dim. “I know I saw you the other day but I missed you!”

“I missed you too.” Her smile faded. “But I need to tell you something.”

“Oh, I need to tell you so much too! I finally finished Game of Thrones but I decided to watch from the beginning again because Ximena’s not caught up yet so when she finally gets to season-”

“Toby!”

He blinked at her behind thick glasses. “Sorry. Sorry. What did you have to tell me?”

“Jason Shaw’s dead.”

His mouth dropped open. “What?”

“Yeah, car accident. “

“Wait, what?” He slowly lowered himself to the ground.

“He got into a car accident late Sunday night.” She sighed, a heavy burst of wind through her lips. “My dad thinks it wasn’t accidental.”

Toby only stared up at her, head in his hands.

She crouched to the ground to look at him, straight on. “Toby, do you know anything?”

“About this?”

“My dad thinks it was someone in the crew.”

He shook his head, vehemently. “You’re asking if I killed him, aren’t you? No way. I was playing D&D with some friends on Sunday and we were on a massive raid to save the princess from a tower but we didn’t have all of the weapons we needed to we needed to go to the ice palace to get special armor and then-”

“This sounds like Zelda, but ok, I believe you.” She stood, frowning. “I didn’t think you would do it anyways, you know.”

He only blinked up at her. “Ellie, how do you know he’s dead?”

“What do you mean?” Her heart stopped. He was dead. Wasn’t he? He had to be dead, going that fast, and the massive fire. Right?

“I don’t know…he’s wily. What if it’s not true? What if the cops faked it?”

Ellie blinked at him, suppressing the retort on her tongue. Luckily, it was that moment that she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see Colt heading out to the floor, grinning as he wrapped an arm around her waist to whisper in her ear.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, yourself.”

“Nightmares?”

She sighed, nudging his chin with her forehead. “Never with you.”

“Hello?” Toby’s voice made her turn. “I’m still here, you know. And, I thought of something.”

“What?” She raised her eyebrows.

“I think I can help in your investigation.”

“Ok…”

“I mean, I’m not sure, but I think that I can and if you think it would be helpful-”

“Out with it, Toby.” Colt stared at him, voice barely masking his annoyance. 

“I can get his phone records.”

Ellie’s stomach dropped. “Seriously?”

“I think so. Give me a second.” He pulled over his laptop and started typing, feverishly. “You see, when I was trying to break into the school AV system, I accidentally got into the cell tower somehow and it was pretty simple from there to break into the-”

“Toby?” She stared. “Are you telling me you accidentally got access to all of the cell phone records for all of LA?”

He blinked up at her, fingers still flying over the keyboard. “Yes?”

“I don’t understand how that’s possible…”

“You don’t need to.” He turned the screen to them with a flourish. “Because here they are.”

Her eyes widened and she dropped to the ground, Colt following, to stare at the screen.

Toby continued without missing a beat. “This is it. All calls he made, all calls he received. And it’s a lot. Local, out-of-state, all here.” He hummed as he examined list, scrolling up and down. “Huh. Weird. This little P next to the number means a pay phone. For something that is basically obsolete, he sure got a lot of calls from them, like here, Sunday afternoon, from the Pavilion. Lots of calls out of state; this local one happens a ton, you should look up what that is.”

Colt scoffed. “Probably his lawyer.”

Ellie watched the dizzying array of numbers piling up on the screen. “Can you print these for me?”

“Sure, no problem.” He hit a few keys and stood up to head into the office.

“Wait!” Colt shouted after Toby’s retreating back. “Can I get a copy, too?”

“Sure, bossman.” 

Toby disappeared through the doorway as Ellie looked blankly at Colt. “You playing detective, Kaneko?”

“Don’t you want to know who killed him?”

She bit her lip. “Not really, to be honest. I just don’t want any of my friends in jail. I don’t care who did it, as long as we don’t go down.”

“I care. I want to buy them a drink.”

“Colt…”

“Seriously. I want to buy them a drink. Hell, a whole bottle, whatever they want.“

"Colt!”

“Ok, ok. Fine. You’re the detective here. I can be your sidekick.” Colt shot her a wink. “But you’d look better in spandex.”

She just rolled her eyes as Toby returned, bouncing triumphantly, handing the pages over with a flourish and settling on the ground again. “You know, with a little work, I could probably get bank account details too.” Toby’s eyebrows were furrowed as he looked at the screen.

“What?”

“That’d be amazing!” Colt’s eyes were wide as he turned to her. “Ellie, if we had those…”

Ellie had to hold up her hands. “Are you sure, Toby? I don’t want you to get in trouble…”

“I think I can do it. Give me a day.”

She sighed. The last thing she wanted to do was to drag the crew into this. “Ok. Fine. Thank you.” She looked at her phone. “Crap. I need to get back for breakfast with my dad. Let me know if you find anything.”

“Will do.” Toby didn’t even look up from the laptop. She smiled and gave him a wave as she turned to her car, Colt following. He grabbed her hand as they walked.

“Hey, you ok, Ellie?“

"Yea. I’m just worried. And I want you as far away from this as I can get you.” He quirked an eyebrow but the sinking in her stomach was appeased when he pulled her in for a gentle kiss, waving her on her way as she started the engine of her dad’s old cruiser.

But, the entire drive, she worried on a thumbnail, sneaking glances at the phone records inside her bag; all she wanted to do was protect the crew. What if this was just involving them further?

Thankfully, she made it home in time to have breakfast with her dad; however, she couldn’t focus on cooking or eating or the conversation. The entire time, Toby’s words echoed in her head. She knew he was dead. Jason Shaw was dead.

Wasn’t he?

Once her dad padded up the stairs for a nap, she headed for door, trying and failing to slow her feet, to stop the shaking in her hands. They shook the entire way there, all the way to the parking lot, where she turned the key and stared at the imposing doors of Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

With a deep breath, she strode through the lobby, finding the stairs and heading down as far as she could go. She had done far worse things in her life. She could do this.

She walked through the halls with her head held high but didn’t see anyone, her feet echoing on empty tile. She followed signs for the morgue, stopping in front of a sterile door. After peeking in, making sure it was empty and she had some privacy, she pulled open the heavy door and slid inside.

It was cold, colder than she expected, and she shivered as she looked around, eyes falling on the metal coolers in the back of the room. She had to take a deep breath, lungs rebelling at the chemicals and solvents in the air, and headed over to check for names. And there, right there, in the middle row, second column on the right, in thick black marker: Shaw, Jason.

Another deep inhale of caustic air and she pulled open the cooler, latch clanking as she pushed the door to the side. She half-expected him to leap up from under the sheets, to attack her, claim his revenge but it was silent, still. She let out a slow breath and pulled the shelf, sliding it out so the sheet and the mass underneath lay in front of her.

“I can do this. I can-” Her whisper gave her strength and, before she could reconsider, she pulled the sheet off and gasped. “Oh my God.”

He was burned, burns everywhere, scorch marks on his chest, the right side of his face, cuts and scrapes and marks covering him, but it was him. Gruesome, ruined, destroyed, but him. And he was dead, undoubtedly, skin blue and cold where it wasn’t burned black and red and inhuman.

She was shaking, staring at the man who haunted her nightmares, who tried to ruin her life, her body trembling so hard that it was vibrating the sheet still gripped between her convulsing fingers. Was it the cold? Fear?

She bit her lip, looking around the room. Or was it anger? She strode over to a steel tray and grabbed a scalpel, clutching it in a tight fist before she returned to his side. And, before she even knew what she was doing, before her common sense could kick in, she moved, hand slamming down, embedding the knife directly into his chest, killing him again.

His heart had long stopped beating. There was no blood welling up from the cut, just a small gash; it was just another injury on this lifeless body.

“You fucking asshole.” The words came to the surface along with the tears and she had to shake her head. A year ago she didn’t swear; now, she was dropping curses after desecrating corpses. “You fucking asshole.”

She hurriedly dropped the scalpel in the sharps container before replacing the sheet and shoving his worthless body into the cooler again. She hazarded a look back, one last glance at the rows of coolers, before striding out of the room.

Oh well. She had committed worse crimes anyway.


	4. Ximena

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ximena joins Ellie in scoping the crime scene.

Ellie walked downstairs to the smell of coffee and sound of grease splattering on the range. No nightmares, again; maybe she was turning the corner. She was so sick of Shaw haunting her dreams, taunting her, threatening the people she loved. Maybe his death had freed her too.

She didn’t even need to say hello before her dad turned at her footsteps, plate in his hand. “Time for breakfast with your old man?”

“Always.” She followed him into the dining room to dig into the Ellie Special. “So…how’s work going?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Fine. Busy.”

“Busy with anything in particular?”

“Are you fishing for information?” His eyes narrowed.

She hung her head, contrite. “I wanted to know about Shaw, of course.”

“No news. ME thinks they can have a cause-of-death before the weekend, probably Friday.” Her stomach dropped. Three days. Three days to investigate. “If one of those punks did this, they’re going down.”

“Dad, they didn’t do anything!”

“Really.” Her dad dropped his fork onto the table. “You expect me to believe that a crew of known criminals, thirsty for revenge, didn’t take the opportunity to take him out?”

“They didn’t do it, Dad.” She leaned forward to glare at him; he peered back. She met his eyes head on, not daring to blink.

“Ellie….Have you- You’ve been investigating them, haven’t you.” It wasn’t even a question, a pointed statement that he spit in her direction.

“I have.”

“I told you to stay away from them! What are you think-”

She pushed her plate away, appetite vanishing. “And do you know what I’m finding? A bunch of teenagers who were targeted by a corrupt LAPD, half of them in hid-.”

“The Kaneko kid’s twenty, not a teena-.”

“I know damn well how old Colt is!” She pushed her chair back, the screech of tile loud in the room, and stood, eyes narrowed venomously at her dad.

He stared right back. “Is that where you’ve been going when you’re not here?” She froze. “When you leave when I head out on shift? When you say you’re sleeping over Riya’s?”

Ellie swallowed.

“Dammit, Ellie, he’s a criminal.”

She blinked back the tears behind her eyes. “He didn’t do this.”

“Then who did?”

“Isn’t it your job to actually find out? And not rush to judgement?” She left the rest of her breakfast uneaten as she fled, feet slamming on the stairs, back up to her room.

~~~~~

After her dad had left and she had finished her brooding, she headed out, driving down roads she had only been down a few times before, stopping on a deserted side street. She made sure to lock it and walked the few blocks, passing liquor stores and check cashing services before seeing the dim tattoo parlor, sandwiched in between a wig shop and an abandoned storefront, iron bars rusting in the windows.

Unlike the surroundings, the parlor looked neat and clean as she ducked in, bell cheerfully ringing above her head. “Hello!”

“Hi, sweetie.” A familiar voice called from the back and, after a few seconds, its owner emerged with a wide smile from down the hallway. Ximena was a sight for sore eyes, a towering gentle giant clad in a black tank; it was almost like no time had passed at all and Ellie was still a naive high schooler getting in over her head.

“X.” She couldn’t stop the smile from spreading ear-to-ear as she was bundled into a signature hug. “How are you?”

“I’m great. You? How’s school?”

Ellie could feel the tension in her shoulders lessen. “Good. I’m good.”

“Are those….” Ximena took her palm, carefully rotating her hand in careful fingers. “Are those tatoos?”

“Oh my God, no.” Ellie laughed, pulling her hand back and stuffing it in her pocket. “Temporary. Riya wanted to experiment; I think she’s jealous of the feather you did on me.”

“Ok. Because this is my full-time gig until Colt has the shop is up and running; you know you need to get all your tats from me!”

“I would never cheat on you, I swear.”

“Good.” Ximena’s face dropped in concern. “You know, I talked to Toby. He told me your dad thinks one of us killed Shaw.”

“Yeah.” And, the tension was back, fear creeping into her spine. She wasn’t a naive high schooler after all; a year later, she was in too deep. Again. “X, I’m scared.”

Ximena turned to her, eyes questioning in the bright light of the shop. “Of what?”

“What if-” Ellie let her breath out slowly between clenched teeth. “What if one of the crew goes down for this?”

“Oh Ellie…” She swept Ellie into her arms again, hands running comforting circles down her shoulder blades. “Do you really think one of us did it?”

“No. No no no but…”

“But it’s not the first time the cops lied to you?”

Ellie’s face fell. “Yeah.” She looked out the window, neon lights casting an eerie tinge on the pavement. “Exactly.”

“Do you trust your dad?”

“I trust that he will investigate to the best of his ability.”

“Then I think you need to trust that it will all work out.”

Ellie sighed. “Easier said than done.”

“Have you seen everyone else?”

“Not yet. I saw Colt and Toby already. I’m going to see Mona tomorrow cuz I need to return her car and Logan after that.”

“You borrowed Mona’s car?”

“Yeah, my dad’s crappy-”

The ringing of the phone interrupted the her sentence and Ellie mouthed an apology, grabbing her phone. “Hey, Toby.” 

“Ellie! I am amazing! I am the Aragon of the internet! The Khaleesi of dragoning! The Bruce Wayne of-”

“Huh?” At Ximena’s confusion, she put it on speaker. “Toby, I don’t know what you’re talking about. And X is here.”

“Hi, X! Listen listen listen both of you…I was able to get into Jason’s bank info!!!” 

Damn. Toby could get a spot on the force if he kept this up. “What did you find?”

“Listen, the night he died-” She could hear Colt in the background, voice raised. “The night he died, he was at the Tattle Tale. 

“What? What? time?” 

“Late. Looks like a little after midnight.”

“Police report said the crash was right after that, before 1.”

“Maybe he was drunk? Maybe-” There was a scuffle, a few curses; Ellie grimaced.

When she put the receiver back to her head, it was a new voice on the line. “Hey, El.” 

“Hi, Colt.”

“Listen, you know how expensive drinks are there. There’s no way he was drunk off one beer.”

“Ok…”

“I think he was meeting someone.” 

“Are you playing detective again?” She rolled her eyes. “I wanted you to stay out of it.” 

Colt continued. “But if we could find out who he was meeting, then we have a lead.”

“We?” She furrowed her brow. “But you’re not-”

“Ellie, this could be your break! Don’t you want to see what we can dig up at the bar?”

“Urgh. Ok, Detective Kaneko. I’ll let you know if I need backup, partner.” She hung up the phone with a sigh and hung her head; she couldn’t help but feel like she was involving the people she loved further and further into this debacle.

The excited voice in front of her added to the feeling. “We should go check it out!”

“What?” Ellie’s face fell as she turned to Ximena.

“Let’s go to The Tattle Tale! I can take lunch now and we can head over and look for clues!”

“X, this isn’t a game!” Her voice was harsh, unexpectedly so judging by the way Ximena recoiled. “I feel like everyone isn’t taking this seriously! Someone could go to jail!”

X put her hands up placatingly, then moved closer to rub Elle’s arm. “I know, sweetie, I know. But if no one in the crew did it, then we should try to prove their innocence as best we can.”

Ellie blinked and nodded, slowly. “Ok. Let’s go.”

~~~~~

It was deserted when they pulled into the parking lot of The Tattle Tale and Ellie clambered out of Ximena’s electric car.

“No lights in the parking lot.”

“What?” Ellie looked over at her before glancing around. There were no light poles here though, at midday, it didn’t much matter; the sun shone so blindingly overhead, Ellie needed to shield her eyes to see.

“Well, Toby said he was here at midnight, right? It would have been dark in this parking lot.”

Ellie stared at her, eyes wide.

“Oh come on.” X groaned at her. “It’s not the first time I’ve cased a joint.” She took a few steps away from the car, turning in slow circles to see. “It’s only open for dinner apparently, but he would have come out here to get in his car and then….” She trailed off, looking at the road. “Where did he crash?”

“The 405. North of here.”

“On ramp’s right there.” Ximena pointed, curve of the pavement rising above the ground only blocks away. “So he drove over there, got on the highway, and crashed?”

“I guess?”

Ximena surveyed the ground around them. “When was the crash?”

“Early Monday morning? 1am?”

“Probably nothing left here then. Let’s walk over to the highway.”

“X, we don’t need to do that.” Ellie edged back to the car. “We really don’t need to…”

But Ximena was already heading out of the parking lot, calling out over her shoulder, “What could it hurt?”

Ellie threw her hands in the air before following, breaking into a run to catch up to the long stride. “What in the world are we doing?”

“Humor me.”

“Is everyone trying to be a detective?”

Ximena smirked. “I will if it will keep us out of jail.”

“X…” Ellie took a deep breath. “I have to ask…”

“I didn’t kill Shaw.”

“Do you have an alibi?”

“Sunday night? I was working late at the shop, a complex sleeve on a regular client. It was the third session; he’d vouch for me.”

Ellie’s shoulders dropped in relief as they neared the overpass. One less person for her dad to target.

“Look over here!”

“What?” She followed X as she walked over to the concrete barrier, pale concrete supports of the overpass towering over them. “What is it?”

“Look at this junk!” X stared down. “it’s like everyone who drives by just throws their litter here. Don’t they care about the environment?”

Ellie looked down, skeptically; it was a mountain of trash, an ocean of paper and plastic bags, cascading in waves behind the concrete. “Yeah. Apparently everyone who drives by eats Big Macs.”

“Oh my God!” Ximena grabbed her arm.

“What?”

“Sorry, I…” X threw her hand to her mouth to cover the giggles. “I saw that black hair and thought it was a dead body. But it’s a wig.”

Ellie blinked. 

“There’s lots of random stuff over here. Lots of trash, ew, needles. Clothes….oh my God, why would there be clothes here?” Ximena wrinked her nose. “Oh, look, an old stop sign! I can add this to the decor at the shop!” She leaned over, peering intently at the mess.

“How do we know what is pertinent? I feel like this is just junk.”

“I have no idea.”

Ellie raked her eyes over the side of the road before looking up at the overpass, traffic booming overhead, road above her vibrating with the weight of the tractor trailers whizzing by. “You know what is actually pertinent?” X raised an eyebrow. “The LAPD didn’t come by to pick up any of this stuff. It’s not evidence.”

“True…”

“It’s just trash, isn’t it?”

Ximena laughed. “One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.”

“You’re taking that stop sign, aren’t you?”

“…yes.”

Ellie couldn’t help but join her laughter. “You do you, X. You do you.”

~~~~~~

By the time they made their way back to Inglewood and Ellie said her goodbyes, a huge hug and promise to visit during summer vacation, it was late afternoon. She sat in her dad’s car for a while, windows open, thinking, watching the sights and sounds of the city from her driver’s seat when the phone rang.

“Hey…” She couldn’t hide the fondness from her voice.

“Hey, troublemaker.”

“How are you?”

“A little disappointed that you have been visiting everyone but me, but I’m good.”

She laughed. “Who have you been talking to?”

“Toby.” His cough was strained over the phone line. “He filled me in. Ellie, you have to know that I didn’t-”

“Stop.” She looked out the window, past the storefronts, barely seeing them. “We shouldn’t talk about this here.”

“Ok but Ellie…you know I have all the motive in the world. But it wasn’t me!”

“I know, Logan. I know.” She brought her hand to her face to gnaw on a fingernail. “I’ll come see you, we can talk in person.”

“Ok…” He sounded dejected. “Stop by the shop on Friday.”

“Will do.”

Once she hung up and was alone with her thoughts, her mind wandered, away from her investigation, away from the detective work, to the past, thinking about all that she had gone through with the crew, all Jason had taken from them, all they had taken back. When she shut her eyes, she could almost see flames licking the sky and had to blink before they consumed her too.


	5. Mona

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie visits Mona and makes an eventful stop at Shaw’s wake.

“You gonna let me in?”

Mona rolled her eyes, opening the door wider to let her slide past. “I suppose I can fit you in my busy schedule.”

Ellie smirked and pulled the car keys from her pocket, tossing them over with a flick of the wrist. “You chariot, your highness.”

“Thanks. Kaneko probably liked riding shotgun in my car over your dad’s old cruiser.”

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“It’s not like I can drive it anywhere anyways.”

“How’s house arrest?”

“Still awful.” Mona flopped onto her couch. “I am caught up on all the daytime TV I never wanted to watch, the only person who visits me is my lawyer, and I just want to be out.”

“I’m sorry.” Ellie flopped beside her. “You want some good news?”

“Shaw’s dead.”

Ellie sat up suspiciously. “How did you-?”

“My lawyer.” Mona ran hand through her hair. “He called the day after it happened, chewed me out a little, and then wanted to talk strategy.”

“What strategy?”

“Well, he was supposed to testify against me. He’s dead, Hester and Wallace are on the run so…”

Ellie furrowed her brows. “Sooo….”

“So he thinks there’s not much of a case, really.”

“He thinks he’s gonna get you off all charges?”

Mona shrugged. “Colt hired the best.”

“And they know you couldn’t do it anyways…”

“Do what? What do you mean?”

Ellie looked at her hands. “My dad thinks it wasn’t an accident. He thinks someone from the crew offed him.”

“Wait. What do you mean I couldn’t do it?” Mona looked almost offended. “I could do it. I would, with my own bare hands.”

“Ummm…your ankle bracelet?” Ellie looked pointedly at the large black contraption tied to her ankle. “They would know if you left the house, if you got within ten blocks of him.”

“Psh.” Mona derisive scoff made Ellie pause. “I can get this thing off, not problem.”

Ellie froze, heart dropping. “What?”

“It’s not hard. You just need the right screwdriver to get the side piece off and the paneling inside had a joint that you can undo. Wanna see?”

“Wait, no-”

“Too bad.” Mona leapt from the couch to fish around in a kitchen cabinet, returning with a small Phillips. “See? You just need to…” It took thirty seconds, three separate screws and then Mona slid her fingers over her dainty foot and suddenly, the tracking bracelet was dangling from her finger. “Tada! Easy.”

Ellie’s jaw dropped.

“I don’t do it that often, you know.” Mona fiddled with the black plastic in her hands. “Just when I desperately need to get out of the house.”

“Mona…” Ellie nervously rubbed her fingers together. “Did you desperately need to get out of the house Sunday night?”

“I don’t know…maybe? I might have snuck out, just to get some fresh air and hit the bar down the block. Why?” Ellie avoided her gaze to look out the window. “Oh my God, you’re investigating.” Ellie kept looking out the window; she could only see sky, blue stretching out as far as she could see, but she just kept staring, mind racing. “Are you investigating me?”

“Well, I _wasn’t_! I thought you were stuck here all the time!” Ellie sighed, looking at her hands. “My dad’s investigating. He thinks it wasn’t as accidental as it appears and he suspects someone from the crew.”

Mona blinked and then threw her head back, laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

Mona wiped a stray tear from her eye. “I feel like you could throw a rock in LA and have a good chance of hitting someone who had it out for Shaw. Yeah, we are sketchy, but so is half the county. You know he’s after us because your dad thinks we corrupted his little girl.”

“Probably true…”

“Do you think he did it?”

“Huh? Who?”

“Your mastermind boyfriend, there.”

Ellie looked out the window again. “He said no. He wouldn’t lie to me.”

“He’d only make you unknowingly transport someone he kidnapped.”

“He didn’t kill him.”

“Then who did?”

“I don’t know!” Ellie threw up her hands. “Maybe it really just was an accident!”

“Ha. Or maybe you’re still the shy valedictorian who has a ten o’clock curfew.”

Ellie rolled her eyes.

“Why don’t you check out the wake?” Mona continued.

Ellie froze. “What?”

“My lawyer told me the wake’s today and tomorrow, they put that bastard in the ground.”

“Why would I go to the wake?”

“Doesn’t the murderer always do that? Gloat over their victim? You could investigate who shows up.” Mona grinned, all teeth. 

“And how would you know this?”

“I’ve watched hours of TV sitting in this freaking apartment; there is a Law & Order on every goddamn hour!” Mona cast an assessing eye over her clothes. “You’re in all black anyways, perfect outfit. Why don’t you check it out?”

“I just did laundry, ok?” Ellie rolled her eyes. “I didn’t bring that many clothes, jeez. Chill out.”

“Ok. But I’m just saying you should check it out. It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever had.”

Ellie looked at her assessingly. “Not the worst…”

~~~~~

Ellie was bored. So bored. She had been there for an hour and no one, not a soul, had come or gone from the funeral home. She expected someone, anyone, hell, she prayed for someone to come but it was dead. Apparently, the cops wanted nothing to do with Shaw and Meaghan started a new life for herself. It just meant that there was absolutely nothing to see or do on this silent, still street. She had already searched her dad’s car for snacks (and found nothing) and dug through her purse for something to do (she counted her change, watched the flame of a lighter dance, and played Solitaire until her battery was down to 15%).

She was bored.

As a result, any confusion she felt when she heard the familiar roar of a motorcycle was immediately supplanted by relief as Colt slid into her passenger seat.

“What are you doing here?” Didn’t Mona say that the guilty party always showed up? Criminal tendencies aside, she was rarely wrong.

“Came to see you.”

“How’d you know I was here?”

“Talked to Mona.” He settled in next to her. “I didn’t know you borrowed her car.”

“Yeah, the brakes on my dad’s old cruiser were acting up. I fixed them, though.”

“Look at my little mechanic.”

She rolled her eyes. “Did you come here to make fun of me? Or to run surveillance on the funeral home, too? Because let me tell you, it’s boring as hell.”

“I can imagine.” He cast a skeptical look across the street, at the bored employees in dark suits milling around. “Have you been looking at these phone records?”

Ellie’s heart dropped. She had been, before shoving them under her bed when her dad came up the stairs, but something in the gleam of Colt’s eyes made he think she should have been looking closer. “Uhh…”

“There’s a bunch of weird stuff here.” Colt pulled out the papers, neatly folded in the pocket of his jacket. She could see blue ink, phone numbers and dates circles, careful notes in the margins.

“When did you become a detective?”

“Ha ha. Know the law to beat the law.” He handed her a page. “He sure called Chicago a lot.”

She looked down at the paper. “You think it’s Hester or Wallace?”

“Could be.” He thumbed through the pages. “Some weird payphone calls, the one Toby found, a long one the day before he died outside Mile High Stadium.” He flipped through some more pages. “But look, look.”

Ellie’s heart dropped and her mouth went dry.

“Ellie, he called Logan!” If Colt could find it that easily, the cops could too. “Ellie, him and Logan talked. Multiple times. There’s one here, over a week ago. Then another…” The sound of pages turning pulled Ellie from her reverie. “And here. Three times, Ellie. He and Logan talked three times.”

She rubbed her forehead.

“Did you visit him yet?”

“No.” The space behind her eyes was starting to throb. “Not yet.”

Colt looked at her curiously, studying her. Finally, he dropped the papers. “Hey. You ok?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Yeah, fine. Fine.” Even she could tell her voice was hollow and unconvincing.

His careful fingers curled around the back of her neck and her breath caught. She had seen those hands punch and scrabble and commit acts of violence that made her head spin but, sometimes, when those fingers ghosted over her skin, sometimes she forgot the hard edges, the crime, willing to forget all of it for just one more gentle touch. Besides, wasn’t everyone a mix of good and evil, an internal a battle between the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other? Just because the devil won once didn’t mean a person was irredeemable. Right?

“Hey.” His soft voice broke through her thoughts. “I love you.”

She blinked, brow furrowing. “I know. I love you, too.” She sighed, low in her throat, as those gentle fingers tugged, lifting her across the center console, gently placing her in his lap.

“I love you, Ellie.” His mutter was low, lips against the skin behind her ear. “No matter what, I love you.”

She pulled back to look at him. “What do you-AAAH!” Her query was interrupted by the car door flying open, a strong hand on her arm pulling her from the car, catching her before she tumbled to the pavement. “What the-?”

She looked up at her assailant and her voice died in her throat at the fury in her dad’s eyes. “Dad?”

“Get your hands off of her!” Cot was out of the car in an instant, leaping to the ground behind her.

“This is between me and my daughter, not some degenerate two-bit thief.”

“Excuse me?” Colt strode forward and Ellie’s breath caught; he looked every bit the criminal her dad claimed, tough, aggressive, hands balled into fists as his eyes zeroed in on her dad. She tried to shrink away but her dad’s hand held firm. “I said let go of her!” 

Finally, her dad let his arm fall, glaring at Colt. “Ellie, get in the car and go home. Now!”

“Don’t talk to her like that.” Colt slid in front of her, stepping in front of her dad; she could just see the ice in her dad’s eyes over the leather jacket and the rigid set of shoulders underneath.

“Colt, no-” This is not how she envisioned Colt meeting her dad. _Crap_.

“And you? Leave my daughter alone.”

“I think she can decide who she talks to.”

“And I think it’s not gonna be idiot hooligans with more muscles than brains. You need to stay the hell away from her.”

“You watch how you talk to me.” 

“Or what? Stay. Away. From. Her. Or else.”

“Or else what?”

“You think I have any qualms about taking you out of here in cuffs?”

“What’s the charge, exactly, Detective? Keeping her bed warm? I mean, that’s not illegal, but maybe some of the things we do should be, right?”

“COLT!” Jesus Christ, she was gonna kill him.

“How about murder, smart ass?”

“You think I killed him?”

Her dad took another step forward, hate in his eyes, jaw set.

“Fucking cuff me then.” Colt’s voice held a challenge that she was terrified her dad would accept.

Her dad took yet another step closer as the two squared off. “Don’t think I won’t hesitate to take you in.” 

“Colt, come on.” She was clinging to his arm, trying to pull him back, her eyes brimming with tears; she could feel his tension in his muscles, coiled and ready to strike. If the clench of his fist was a precursor to a punch, this would get ugly. Fast. 

“You better have some proof before you start throwing baseless accusations around.” The ushers from the funeral home had noticed the altercation, turning to watch, gesturing and whispering.

“Baby, _please_.” Ellie pulled harder but Colt wasn’t moving, feet planted, less than a foot between him and her dad.

“I’ve taken down tougher men than you, Kaneko.” Her dad wasn’t backing down either, hand on his service pistol, another step forward so he was in Colt’s face. 

The tears had started to fall, clinging to her cheeks, dropping into her hair. “Dad, stop!”

They were eye-to-eye now; her dad had an inch over Colt but Colt was broader, the tight lines under the cut of leather imposing enough without the rage in his eyes. “If you think you can pin this on me, then you’re as fucking corrupt as he was.”

“Colt!” It took the hysteria creeping into her voice and one huge tug on his forearm but, finally, he turned, looking at her as if he just remembered she was there. “Please, stop. _Please_.” She watched him look at her dad, again, then her, taking in the tears on her face, the trembling of the arm that still clutched at him, desperately.

With one last look at her dad, jaw clenching, he shook his head and turned heel, storming back to his bike.

“What the hell, dad?”

“I cannot believe you’re…you’re cavorting with him!”

She blinked, watching Colt throw his leg over the bike and, before she could think better of it, darted after him. “Wait, wait!” He looked confused, helmet in his hands, as she dashed over. Before she could think twice, acting on instinct without regard for consequence, she clutched his cheeks in her palms, pulling his lips to hers in a desperate apology, an unmistakable message to them both. He kissed her back, fiercely, before she pulled away. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” His eyes trailed down her face, softness in his eyes such a contrast to the enraged look her dad got. Finally, with one last glance behind her, he put his helmet on and was off with a roar. After his taillights faded into the night, she crossed her arms over her chest, shooting one last withering look at her dad before getting in the car and driving away.


	6. Logan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie visits Logan as her dad’s investigation moves along.

Ellie was shocked, astounded, when she entered the silent dining room the next morning to find her dad sitting there, obviously waiting for her, table set with two full cups of coffee and two heaping breakfasts.

“Sit.”

She sat. Waiting.

“I’m sorry.”

She blinked. This was definitely not how she thought this conversation would start.

“I apologize. I lost my temper at your friend-”

“My boyfriend.”

Her dad winced. “Boyfriend, then. Planning on bringing him around for dinner?”

“Not anymore.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked in front of her. She could hear her stomach rumbling and would die for a sip of coffee, fingers twitching, aching to reach for the food in front of her. She waited, not moving.

“Ellie. You just….you don’t know what I see. Out there, gangs feuding for no reason, kids wrapping themselves around trees. I just worry…it’s why I make sure my old cruiser in the the driveway when I drive by on night shift. It’s why I didn’t let you go out in high school. It’s why you can’t date a gang banger.”

“It’s why you forcibly pulled me out of the car?”

“I lost my head and I apologize.” He leaned closer, eyes intent on her. “But Ellie, one of them killed Shaw and Kaneko has all the motive in the world. You can’t associate with that!”

She stood up. “I’m an adult and I’ll associate with whoever I want!”

“Ellie, you’re making a stupid mistake!” Her dad stood as well, eyeing her. “He’s not worth your time. You need to go back to school and-”

“I get to decide what I do, dad. Not you. Not anymore.” She crossed her hands over her chest. “It’s my life. My choices.”

“You live under this roof, you-”

“We’re not doing this again.This didn’t end so well last time. For either of us.” She shook her head and grabbed her things. “I’ll talk to you later.” She attributed it to personal growth, the fact that she gently closed the front door behind her and he surprisingly refrained from screaming at her. Baby steps.

~~~~~

After an emergency stop for coffee, she headed out of the city proper, where the air got fresher and the homes bigger with every block, every step. Finally, she pulled up in front of a gleaming auto body shop, stopping for a second to marvel at the two-story building, definitely a leg up over Kaneko Auto Body. At this point, Colt’s shop was a clean, if mostly empty, room that housed a motorcycle and a loft bedroom; this looked like it could house a mansion.

She jumped when someone knocked at her window. Rolling it down, she stared at the lanky teenager in front of her. “Dropping your car off, Miss?”

She blinked. “Are you a valet?”

“I can drive your car through the bay doors for you if you would prefer to head right into the waiting room, where we have a television, magazines, and coffee waiting for you right though-”

“Jesus, stop.” She held up her hands. “I’m just here to visit a friend. Logan? A mechanic?”

“Ah, of course, miss.” He nodded, a obsequious mini-bow that made Ellie flinch. “I can park your car for you in the visitor lot, if you prefer.”

She blinked. If it were her car, she wouldn’t allow it, would only allow a select few, hand-chosen individuals the privilege of driving her bright pink European import. But her dad’s old cruiser? She hopped out and tossed over the keys before traipsing away. He could wrap it around a tree for all she cared.

When she floated through the automatic doors, she had to stare. The inside was as polished as the outside, cool metal as far as the eye could see. _Damn_. Apparently, this was how the other half lived. And, at the far bay, a familiar figure in a white t-shirt was hunched next to the grill on a pristine white Lambo.

Ellie let out a whistle as she got closer. “This place has a valet?”

“And the best mechanic in all of LA.” Logan stood up, wiping his hands on a rag before wrapping her up in a hug. She leaned in, hands tight around his waist, squeezing him tight. “ Hey, Troublemaker. How are you?”

“I’m good.” She could feel the stress leaving her body; it had been far too long since she had seen him. “How are you? These are impressive digs!”

“I mean, I can’t take any credit for it. It’s alright.” He shrugged, looking around with a grin. “Sure beats Kaneko’s shop, though.”

She poked his rib. “Hey. Watch it. I happen to have a soft spot for that place.”

“You have a soft spot for the owner, you mean, one that he definitely doesn’t deserve.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s go for a walk.”

She followed him, past the eager valet at the front desk, out onto the street and down a block, closer to the ocean. She could smell the salt in the air and they sat on a bench in a quiet neighborhood, overlooking a small park. As she watched a pair of kids play tag, she could almost believe that everything was normal, that they were just a couple of friends enjoying the spring day, with no murder investigation hanging over their heads.

“Alright, Trouble. How are you really?”

“I’m ok.” She studied him, the dark underneath his eyes, the way his teeth dug into his lip. “How are you?”

“I’m ok, too. How’s your dad’s investigation?”

“I don’t know.” She sighed, leaning back against the faded wood. “He doesn’t tell me anything, especially not now. He and Colt almost got into a fist fight yesterday.”

“What? When?”

“I was staking out the wake and Colt showed up and then my dad did.” She tipped her head back with a groan. “It was a mess.”

“Does he think Colt did it?”

“I think so?”

“Do you think Colt did it?”

“No. I don’t.” She opened her eyes to see him staring at her. “What?”

“He would be my prime suspect. I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time he tried to kill Shaw.”

“Logan.” She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. She considered her options and realized that there was no nice way to say this. “Logan, you would be my prime suspect.”

“Wait, you think I did it?”

“No, no no no, Logan, that’s not what I meant.” She studied him, carefully. “But you would be the most obvious suspect. I have the phone records and, if I have them, you know the cops do too.”

“Ellie, I’m telling you, I didn’t do it.” He pivoted to face her, eyes earnest.

“I know. Aren’t you relieved he’s dead, though?”

“Hell, Ellie, of course I am. He fucking threatened me. He said he would come after me, said he still had friends in the force.”

“I know-”

“He just kept calling me and threatening me about his trial, about wanting to know where Mona was, wanting to talk to her before they both went to court.” He ran his hands threw his hair, tugging roughly on the strands; Ellie felt her heart break. “I didn’t know how to stop him but I couldn’t, I wouldn’t do kill him.”

“Logan-”

“Ellie, you know I couldn’t give up Mona. You know I wouldn’t. He wanted to kill her! And then he was gonna kill me and then he wouldn’t stop…”

The kids had moved on from tag, apparently done chasing each other around, now climbing a tree, daring each other to go higher and higher. She wondered how high they would go before one fell, before a bad decision and gravity caused them to plummet to the earth.

“I didn’t do it, Ellie, I swear.”

“I know. I know.” Could she possibly keep them all from falling? As she watched the kids climb higher and higher, laughing as they went, she didn’t know who would climb and who would fall.

~~~~~

“My dad tried to apologize.”

Colt scoffed, disdain dripping from the phone line. “Great. I guess my apology will come in the mail any day now.”

Ellie rubbed her temple and settled in deeper into her couch. “You didn’t exactly keep your cool either.”

“He dragged you out of the car. You can’t expect me to sit there for that shit.”

“Not the best ‘meet the parents’ situation.”

“C’mon, El. You know it wasn’t gonna go well regardless.” She could hear his footsteps, heavy on the concrete floor of the shop. “How’s his investigation going?”

“No idea.” The television was showing some procedural; men in black suits flashed across the screen. “He said today was the day.”

“What do you mean?”

“He said the ME would be able to make a determination on cause of death today.” The television was not captivating her attention; she didn’t want to know who went free and who was jailed on a fake crime on some fake Hollywood set. 

Colt hummed. “Does he know who did it?”

“I don’t know.” She wanted to know who went free and who went to jail in her own life. 

“Do you?”

“It could be anyone. Everyone.” Her thumbnail was almost completely gone, stress and worry and nerves all multiplying in her head and over her body.

Colt hummed again.

“I saw Logan.”

“Huh.” She could hear Colt’s eyes rolling over the phone. “How was that?”

“Fine. Works at a shop outside Manhattan Beach.”

“High class. What a tool.” His disdain was evident. “Do you think he did it?”

“I don’t know.” She heard a car turn down the street, closer, and turned her head, as slowly as possible. There were lights in her driveway. Her heart leapt; her dad was home. “He’s the one who talked to Shaw, I mean.”

“What did he say about that?”

“Not much.” Her dad turned off the engine and the hair on Ellie’s arms stood straight up. She turned, as unobtrusively as she could, to see out the window. “Said Shaw threatened him.”

“Wait, Ellie, Shaw threatened Logan? I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah.” Her focus was solely on her dad, closing his car door, thick manila envelope in his hand. “He told me, called a week ago, before break. I knew that,” she answered idly.

“Wait, what?” His tone was sharp but it wasn’t enough to break through, as distracted as she was. “You knew?” She had to know what was in that folder.

“Colt, I have to go.” She could hear the key in the lock. Crap.

“Wait, hold on-”

“My dad’s home, I have to go. Sorry.” She ended the call and threw the phone on the couch, pivoting to face the TV, ears intent on the footsteps behind her. 

“Hi, Dad.”

He stopped and looked at her, hard. She forced herself to take a shallow breath. She was gonna throw up, every nerve in her body doing battle in her stomach. After an eternity, he nodded and headed upstairs to the study, folder held tight by his side.

Her exhale was shaky and she turned to look out the window at his cruiser, dark and forbidding in the dark of her driveway. Was no news good news?

She waited and waited but he didn’t come downstairs again. Finally, with her stomach churning, she went to bed and fell into a restless sleep, nightmares returning in full force. She could see Jason behind the wheel of his car, chasing and chasing her, gaining as she frantically pushed on the gas, red and blue lights filling the night sky around them. When she woke up, the tears had streamed down her cheeks, damp pillowcase a visual reminder of her fears.


	7. Whodunnit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth is revealed.

Ellie waited on pins and needles, pacing footsteps wearing a circular path in her carpet, until her dad was downstairs, busy with breakfast. Finally, she was able to move and she tiptoe into the study, closing the door behind her with the softest of clicks. She didn’t have to look hard, manila folder open on the desk, calling to her. She picked it up with trembling fingers and skimmed.

**Jason Shaw **(Deceased)

**COD**: Single-Occupant Motor Vehicle Fatality

She sank to the floor, releasing the breath she didn’t know she was holding. It was accidental. She continued reading.

Due to the speed with which he crashed, the car was completely destroyed, making a definitive cause-of-death determination next-to-impossible. When the police arrived, the car was fully ablaze and efforts to extract Shaw had to be halted until they were able to put out the fire.

The car had been speeding, traveling so fast that survival would have been impossible. The report suggested that it could have been a suicide since no indication of braking was found. However, it also noted that the brake lines had been severed, though potentially burned up on impact, scorch marks evident throughout the body and engine car. It would be impossible to know if they had been ruined before the accident. Without any further details, without any further proof, the police had to rule it an accident.

She put the folder back on the desk, careful to arrange it just how she found it, before sneaking out of the room with a massive sigh of relief. Her flight back to the East Coast left tomorrow and it was a weight off her shoulders. 

No one was wanted for murder.

~~~~~

When she left her house that evening, she needed to think, so she headed to the one place where her head was clearest. It had only been an hour before she heard the footsteps and sighed, not moving her gaze from the lapping water below her. She didn’t turn, even when he sat beside her, sleeve of his jacket brushing against her arm, didn’t turn until he spoke.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

Colt sat in silence, looking over the horizon, until the silence got to be too much for him. “Did they rule it was an accident?”

“Yeah.”

Colt huffed. “It wasn’t though, was it.”

The sun was slipping behind the water, last rays of the day glinting off the surf. She sighed.

“You figured out who did it.” Colt glanced at her, waiting.

It wasn’t a question so she didn’t respond.

“Ellie. You knew all along, didn’t you?”

She finally turned to him, his brow knitting in a question unasked. His eyes were reflecting the last light of day back at her, a ray of light in the darkening night.

He watched her, unflinching, taking her silence as agreement. “Congratulations. You solved your case. I think I owe you a drink.” 

“It was determined to be an accident. He lost control on the 405 and slammed into the barrier at the median. Investigation’s closed.” She looked at her hands.

“You know it wasn’t an accident.”

She shrugged. “That’s what the report said.” He held her gaze until she lowered her eyes, peering back at the water. Her shoulders dropped. He knew. “When’d you figure it out?”

“Honestly? It took a while.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, a welcome warmth warding off the cool breeze. “But someone killed him and it was well-planned. A damn good plan. And there’s only a few people in LA who could come up with a plan to off a disgraced former detective and make it look like an accident, only a few people who could do it and get away with it. And I knew it wasn’t me so….” He trailed off.

She looked up at the stars starting to poke through the dark of the sky, feeling the prick of tears starting behind her eyelids.

He continued, “Things started to add up. Mona’s car. The timing. I mean, he’s been on parole for months. Why would someone kill him now? And then when you said you knew he threatened Logan, things just clicked.” When she kept silent, he just kept going. “What did you say to him in Denver? You guys spoke for over ten minutes during your stopover.”

“I thought-” She took a reflexive breath in, sea air cold in her lungs. “Logan called me a few weeks ago, told me Shaw found him. He was threatening him, trying to find where Mona was.” She gnawed at a thumbnail, blood welling to the surface again, before she continued. “I thought if I talked to him, I could convince him to leave it alone, leave her alone. I thought the threat of my dad would be enough.”

Her eyes were filling with tears; she tried blinking them away but couldn’t. Colt only watched her, gaze unreadable. She continued, lost in the memory of Jason, screaming at her over the phone. “He was irate. He wouldn’t listen, kept threatening.” Her breaths were shaky, inhale and exhale shuddering. “He knew it was my Spring Break. He said he would use me. Use me to get to Logan. Use me to get to Mona.” She swallowed, hard, leaning further against Colt. “He said he would use me to get to you.”

“You don’t need to protect me, Ellie.” He brushed a tear from her face. “I can take care of myself.”

She shook her head, vehemently. “We protect each other, Colt. Us against the world, remember?”

“So you told him that you would give him Mona if he left me alone.” She could see the gears turning as he watched the tears running down her face. “You said you could arrange something, get her out of the house for a few drinks. And you pretended to be her. You set up a meeting at the dive bar, made sure it was a straight shot to the highway.”

She sniffed. “No street lights. No stop signs.”

“Important because, when he was at the bar, you killed his brake lines.”

“I had to practice on my dad’s car for hours to figure it out.” She shook her head ruefully.

“And you nailed it; he couldn’t have stopped if he wanted to. Then, you played Mona, with the car, the tats-”

“A wig…”

“And you took him on a merry chase down the highway.”

Colt waited for her to deny it. She couldn’t. She could barely speak through her closed throat, through the tears. “And then I watched him burn.” The confession hung in the wind and Ellie looked out at the water, far below them. Her mind was far away and, when she finally spoke, her voice was distant, barely a whisper. “….I cried.”

“What?” Colt looked at her in shock. “Because he died?”

She was starting to cry now, thinking back on that night. “The fire. It reminded me of your dad.”

“Ellie…”

“I did it for me.” She kept swiping the tears from her cheeks with an angry hand but she couldn’t keep up, water flowing from her eyes faster than she could wipe it away. “I did it because he would never stop haunting my nightmares. I did it because he wanted to hurt Mona. I did it because he threatened Logan, he threatened you. Hell, I did it for you, for everything he took from you. I did it for all of us……Colt, I’m a _murderer_. ” Her voice caught on the last word.

“Hey.” He took off his jacket to drape it around her shoulders before pulling her close again. “Hey. He would have killed you in a heartbeat. He almost did, in your high school parking lot, if it weren’t for Mona.”

“I know…” She looked down. “I know.”

They sat in silence for a while, listening to the water lapping against the cliff, watching the stars appear, shining with hope and promise above them. Finally, Colt spoke again. “You could have told me.”

“I know.” She dropped her head to his shoulder. “ I knew you would be the prime suspect so I didn’t want to say anything until I knew they ruled it as an accident. I wanted him dead but I needed you free more.”

“Ellie, come on.” He kissed her forehead. “It’s us against the world.”

“One less person in the world against us now,” she sighed.

“Only about a million more to go. And we’ll take every single one of them.”

“Yeah. We will.” She gave him a small smile before looking back out at the waves. “Us against the world.”


End file.
